Social media and the internet didn’t exist when the Detroit Tigers drafted Brogna with the No. 26 overall pick in 1988. When Brogna struggled, like he did as a 21-year-old at Triple A for the first time in 1991, the feedback and attention was nearly 100 percent from his coaches, teammates and the occasional family member.

“It can weigh on you. You can say, ‘Oh, I blow it off,’ if it’s criticism or even if it’s positive you can take it that way too,” Brogna said. “What players eventually learn as they play, they narrow their focus. It doesn’t mean they don’t hear things or pay attention, but they really can zero in on to what they can control. It’s easy to say but it’s a hard concept to learn.”

Top picks nowadays don’t have the same anonymity. The amount of available information,...